This invention relates generally to the art of portable desks and more specifically to a portable desk useful for playing bingo and similar games.
People who play bingo often have a great deal of supplies to carry about, such as clobbers, glue, pencils, ashtrays, portable desks, and the like. Further, many bingo players play up to eighteen bingo cards per game and, in order to do this, require efficient work surfaces for maintaining the cards in ordered and convenient arrangements. Such people often need to access their supplies both when they are playing bingo and when they are transporting the supplies. Many serious bingo players employ special containers for transporting their bingo supplies and some employ portable desks on which they place their cards when they are playing bingo.
It is an object of this invention to provide a bingo box which, in a carrying configuration, can be used for transporting bingo supplies but which can also be converted into a desk, in a working configuration, in which it is used for efficiently holding a multitude of bingo cards for playing the cards.
It is also an object of this invention to provide such a bingo box which efficiently stores bingo supplies, as well as other items, both in the carrying configuration and in the working configuration.
Similarly, it is an object of this invention to provide such a bingo box having hinged cover panels which can be used for accessing storage spaces within the bingo box when the bingo box is both in the carrying configuration and in the working configuration.
There have been a number of portable bingo desks suggested in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,069 to Shaw discloses a bingo work station comprising first and second housings hinged together at bottom edges thereof. However, the bingo work station of Shaw cannot be used as a storage container nor can it be used for transporting supplies and other items. Shaw's housings are open at the bottom for containing lights and foldable leg members which can be easily accessed from the bottoms of the housings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,048 to Watson et al. describes a game carrying and playing apparatus which has a trapezoidal configuration to create a beveled desk surface. A member forming the beveled surface also serves as a cover so that things can be placed in a case. Although there is a handle on Watson et al.'s case, the case is non-symmetrical and it appears that it would be clumsy to transport. Similarly, it also appears that it would be inconvenient to access the case when the case is in a carrying mode. That is, if the beveled surface were opened when the case is in a carrying mode, things in the case would fall out of the case. Yet another difficulty with the device shown in the Watson et al. patent is that it would have to be unduly long and clumsy in order to hold eighteen bingo cards. Finally, an accessory tray of the Watson et al. patent is a separate part and appears to be clumsy to store and use.
It is an object of this invention to provide a bingo box which is easily foldable between a carrying configuration and a working configuration, can be easily used for storing and transporting bingo supplies, allows convenient access to such supplies both in the carrying configuration and in the working configuration, is symmetrical in the carrying configuration with an enlarged bottom and a tapered top having a handle, and forms an excellent working surface in the working configuration for efficiently holding at least eighteen bingo cards.